Check out this cool photo of a giant Poison ad in Times Square, the crossroads of the world. I swiped the photo from Poizond13 over at Metal Sludge, so I hope he doesn't mind. After the photo popped up on the message board, a lot of Poison fans were excited including myself. After all, it's been more than two decades since Poison released their debut disc.

The newswire is promoting the release of Poison'd, a disc of cover songs which has a June 5 release date. I'm not an ad buyer, but I know a promotion of this magnitude had to cost some serious cash. After all, space and money in NYC is always at a premium so Poison's label must have some serious faith in this new album.

Enter all the haters.

Every other post on Metal Sludge was from a person running down Poison, their work ethic, their musical ability, and their looks. The issue here isn't with Metal Sludge because that message board is all about talking smack. It's about all the people who used to be fans of Poison (or RATT, Motley Crue, Sea Hags, Winger, Badlands, Bonham, Aerosmith, etc.) that have turned their backs on the band because of modern trends.

People, take note. There's a reason why Poison still has label support and the ability to fill shed tours every summer. It's because Poison is a great glam band who knows how to put on an awesome live show and have a good time. For everyone who says Poison only plays their hits, I say what do you expect? Steven Tyler once said he was sick of performing "Walk This Way" live but the boys in Aerosmith know they have no choice. It's their calling card, just like "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" is Poison's calling card. This is the way things are. There are plenty of die hard fans out there - like me - who would love to hear B-sides or lesser known tracks performed live. I'm also realistic so if this means hearing "Fallen Angel" live again, I'm very cool with that.

So, I say congratulations to Bret Michaels, Bobby Dall, C.C. DeVille, and Rikki Rockett. Marketing is very important to album sales, and it's good that the boys are getting out there and trying to stir up interest for their upcoming release. I can't wait to see Poison again, I know I'll be having nothing but a good time.

In other news, Stevie Rachelle (owner of Metal Sludge and Tuff lead singer) started the rumour that White Lion will be joining Poison and RATT for their summer tour. Mike Tramp's White Lion features bassist Claus Longwood, drummer Troy Patrick Farrell, guitarist Jamie Law and keyboarder Henning Wanner. Tour dates have yet to be announced.

Reader Comments (5)

I am not a huge fan of Poison. They are alright, but they had a big influence on the glam scene and still do on what there is of a glam scene. My only problem right now is doing a cover album instead of new material. That's not just Poison though as I have the same problem with Tesla or anyone else doing a cover album. I do give Poison a lot of credit for having the original line-up. Look at other 80's bands and see all of the line-up changes and bands touring with only one original member.

I like Poison, but am not a bit happy with this covers disc. Quite a few of the cover tunes, are covers that they did on previous albums, so you are getting a half of disc full of already covered cover tunes. Sad if you ask me. I will save my money for the Tesla covers album Real 2 Reel. Tesla is one band that will do a covers disc right. I heard the one of the tracks off of it already and was pretty amazed.

The new trend is doing a covers disc. It seems that every band is doing one and they range from really good to really awful. The problem is that they are easy and inexpensive to make due to less time in a studio. Labels love these things because it gives them a reason to promote the back catalog, which will outsell the new release anyway.

For the diehard fans, its a slap in the face. Any fan worth their salt would want an album of new, original material over a set of covers. The reason EMI/Capitol is promoting this release so heavily is because they have the rights to the Poison catalog and some of those songs appear on the covers album. I'm not sure if Poison struck a deal with the label for the independently released POWER TO THE PEOPLE (2001) and HOLLYWEIRD (2002) but half the songs are already available.

Poison's last two singles were covers. There 70 minute setlist contains at least three covers as it has the last few tours, these guys played 'Rock And Roll All Nite' opening the KISS tour, what a joke! This is all a quick money grab for the label and band.